and after two years of the canadian presidency, the united states, the obama administration will take over the arctic council. that will be, my dear friends, some testing time for the united states in term of the community, the political community, the engagement of the business corporation, the think tank and the others. it will be a testing time indicating how does the united states see the future of the arctic? what is the direction it wants to give? not only to the other arctic countries but also to india, china, many of the european countries and others that also want to be a part of the arctic future. that is why in addition to the great tradition of this institution, we were honored and pleased to use this venue, the national press club in washington to announce establishment of the arctic circle. we all live, as was mentioned, in the introduction in a dependent world. we perhapses don't realize every day how dependent we are on the ice. but in -- but it is melting and meltings fast. that is why the chinese are already repairing. that's why singapore got a special division in t